But a truce to this strain; for my soul it is sad,
To think that a heart in humanity clad
Should make, like the brute, such a desolate end,
And depart from the light without leaving a friend!
  Bear soft his bones over the stones! 
  Though a pauper, he’s one whom his Maker yet owns!

THOMAS NOEL.

UNSEEN SPIRITS.

The shadows lay along Broadway,
  ’T was near the twilight-tide,
And slowly there a lady fair
  Was walking in her pride. 
Alone walked she; but, viewlessly,
  Walked spirits at her side.

Peace charmed the street beneath her feet,
  And Honor charmed the air;
And all astir looked kind on her,
  And called her good as fair,—­
For all God ever gave to her
  She kept with chary care.

She kept with care her beauties rare
  From lovers warm and true,
For her heart was cold to all but gold,
  And the rich came not to woo,—­
But honored well are charms to sell
  If priests the selling do.

Now walking there was one more fair,—­
  A slight girl, lily-pale;
And she had unseen company
  To make the spirit quail,—­
’Twixt Want and Scorn she walked forlorn,
  And nothing could avail.

No mercy now can clear her brow
  For this world’s peace to pray;
For, as love’s wild prayer dissolved in air,
  Her woman’s heart gave way!—­
But the sin forgiven by Christ in heaven
  By man is cursed alway!

NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS.

BEAUTIFUL SNOW.

O the snow, the beautiful snow,
Filling the sky and the earth below! 
Over the house-tops, over the street,
Over the heads of the people you meet,
  Dancing,
    Flirting,
      Skimming along. 
Beautiful snow! it can do nothing wrong. 
Flying to kiss a fair lady’s cheek;
Clinging to lips in a frolicsome freak;
Beautiful snow, from the heavens above,
Pure as an angel and fickle as love!

O the snow, the beautiful snow! 
How the flakes gather and laugh as they go! 
Whirling about in its maddening fun,
It plays in its glee with every one. 
  Chasing,
    Laughing,
      Hurrying by,
It lights up the face and it sparkles the eye;
And even the dogs, with a bark and a bound,
Snap at the crystals that eddy around. 
The town is alive, and its heart in a glow,
To welcome the coming of beautiful snow. 
How the wild crowd go swaying along,
Hailing each other with humor and song! 
How the gay sledges like meteors flash by,—­
Bright for the moment, then lost to the eye! 
  Ringing,
    Swinging,
      Dashing they go
Over the crest of the beautiful snow: 
Snow so pure when it falls from the sky,
To be trampled in mud by the crowd rushing by;
To be trampled and tracked by the thousands of feet
Till it blends with the horrible filth in the street.